| What could be better than dinosaurs terrorizing people on a remote island? A
dinosaur that terrorizes a populated city. That's the best part of this film.
Unfortunately, you have to wait until the last 15 minutes to get to these choice laughs.
But there are a number of good scenes to get you there, so the wait is worth it. There were many articles that mentioned this movie only cost roughly 75 million
dollars to make. Spielberg reportedly stated that he is amazed by the lack of control many
studios have over movie budgets these days. With all the 100+ million dollar movies, he
was committed to making The Lost World within a set, inexpensive budget, and he
succeeded. No small wonder. The plot was lifted from the first film, a few modifications
were made to accommodate the politically correct crowd, and the special effects were
actually less impressive - simply a greater quantity. This was truly surprising to me
since his past films each offered something unique and entertaining - even in sequel form,
like the Indiana Jones series.
In short, Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) is summoned to John Hammond's
mansion, and learns that the company has been taken over by Hammond's nephew Peter. He
also learns that there was a second island, where the dinosaurs were bred. Peter plans to
take the dinosaurs off the island and bring them back to the US and open a zoo in San
Diego.
Hammond wants Ian to go to the new island and determine the status of
the dinosaurs. Ian, refuses except that he finds out his girlfriend Sarah is already there
studying them. So Ian rushes to the island to rescue his girlfriend with a small team of
observers. Little do they realize that Peter has plans to send another team to the island
to retrieve several dinosaurs for immediate return to the mainland. The hilarity ensues.
The arrival of Jeff Goldblum on the island is similar to that of the original film,
where the team first encounters the roaming dinosaurs. The sense of "ooh, ahhh"
is actually mocked by Goldblum's character, and I was laughing at how poor the special
effects were. All the fuzziness, lack of color control, shading mistakes that I've seen in
most of the digital effects these days were present as well. I will say however, that the
live action robotic dinosaurs were impressive.
The scene where the T-Rexes are pushing the trailer over the cliff is a
direct combination of two scenes from the first film, where a T-Rex trashes a Ford
Explorer with kids inside it, and a scene where the evil fat programmer tries to pull his
Jeep out of a mess with a winch cable (alright, maybe not so similar on that part). It's
also similar right down to the part where the main characters are hanging by a rope as the
vehicle comes crashing down around them. There's actually another scene where a car flies
into a tree that two guys are sitting in which forces them to run away as the car crashes
down behind them. This is the same way the characters in the first film escaped the
Explorer lodged in the tree. Original scenes? I think not.
One of the aspects of the first Jurassic Park that I hated was
this superhuman intelligence that the velociraptors were portrayed as having, and the
terror that they inflicted on the characters as a result of their prowess. Really, give me
dual Berettas and I would prepare some velociraptor soufflé. Spielburg again fell back to
this as a cheap method of extracting terror on the screen as The Lost World's
main avenue for violence stemmed from these small dinosaurs chasing everyone around. The
depiction of these animals as being "unstoppable" made me want to retch my guts
out.
Another really pathetic theme that persisted throughout the movie was
the notion of "these animals are innocent and we should do whatever it takes to
protect them". I especially loved every scene where characters sympathetic to these
dinosaurs were either terrorized themselves or witnessed dinosaurs committing grisly
murders. And still the characters would try to save the dinosaurs from harm. Ridiculous.
The character most guilty of this bleeding heart sympathy was Sarah
(Julianne Moore). She almost gets herself and her companions killed several times
throughout the film, and unfortunately survives. I screamed in wild laughter when the
T-Rex's thanked her for saving their baby by mauling their trailer over the cliff and
ripping one of their team members apart.
I'm reminded of a video clip from "When Animals Attack" where
an animal rights activist is protesting the cruelty of the running of the bulls in
Pomplonia, Spain. The activist finds herself caught in an alley and the bull turns on her
and virtually mauls her to death. Make no mistake about it - animal cruelty has no place
in society today. However, if I'm ever faced with a situation where I can save my life or
the lives of others from dangerous creatures, I'll choose human life over the animals
anytime.
Spielburg sure saved the movie studios some money with this film. The computer effects
were second rate, and the plot borrowed heavily from its predecessor and other standard
monster movies. I guess he should have bred some hyper intelligent velociraptors to help
him write the screenplay. Most likely the raptors would have turned him down, since they
would have other goals - winning the nobel prize, curing cancer, eliminating world hunger,
etc.
drkpitt |
| Killer Gumbies |
| A little girl wanders a way from her pretentious parents
on the island and accidentally runs into a pack of baby Velociraptors. At first she finds
them cute and shares her food with them, but quickly realizes that little creatures that
dine on your flesh shouldn't be invited to tea parties... |
| Take That, Fossey |
| Sarah takes some up close pictures of a Stegosaurus and
her camera's film rewinding noise upsets the parents. They swat at her with their tails,
nearly impaling her and she briefly experiences SRH
from creatures she once thought were harmless. |
| Don't Break the Ice |
| Sarah and her friends are trapped inside an double trailer
as it precariously hangs over the edge of the cliff. She is knocked unconscious and falls
to the back of the trailer, towards the cliffs below. Her fall is broken by a glass
window. Her screams of terror as it cracks with her every move, plus her race against an
object about to fall and break it completely are hysterical. |
| Tunnel of Love |
Sarah, Ian, and Nick are cling to a rope
for their dear lives as the trailer slips off the edge of the cliff and they manage to
stay in the "center" of it as it slides past them. |
| Make a Wish |
| Two T-Rex's torture and tease the "gizmo" guy in
his truck who is unable to use his weapon to protect himself. They rip off the top of the
SUV, one grabs him in the mouth up to his waist, and the other grabs his legs. The
dinosaurs wish for a cut of the films profits, and then pull his body apart. |
| Dino Toe Jam |
| A T-Rex chases the party of dinosaur captors and steps on
one of them. The man gives a stupendous performance of "Why Me" and his body is
crushed into a lifeless pulp. What warrants SDSPL in
this scene is that the mans body sticks to the T-Rex's foot and is mashed in two
subsequent steps before slipping off. |
| BodySnatchers |
| The group of dinosaur hunters attempts to flee through
some tall grass. The raptors are actually lurking in the field, and snatch each man one by
one from below. Their bodies disappear into the grass as quickly as groundhogs on
steroids. |
| GymKata |
| Dr. Malcom's daughter gathers up her courage to take on a
velociraptor in a small room. As the raptor leaps toward the rafters and pipes where the
characters are hiding, she uses a pipe as an uneven bar and swings gratuitously in circles
around it, finally swinging and kicking the raptor through a window. Ridiculous, and
worthy of SDSPL. |
| Dog Meat |
| An unsuspecting family wakes up to find a T-Rex in their
backyard, drinking their pool water, and discovers it has dined on their beloved dog. The
perfect touch to the scene is the dogs chain dangling from it's mouth, still attached to
the dog house. Finally, a movie that doesn't pull any punches and gives DA viewers a scene
worthy of SDSPL. |
| Speed II |
| A T-Rex runs throughout the city, and actually knocks a
bus around with its head. The bus driver should have stayed above 50mph. |
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